While medicine, law, and other professions have made
considerable progress, race and gender equity remains a major
concern in architecture and planning, and among the organizations
that oversee education and practice.

The School of Architecture and Planning was created half a
century ago as a direct challenge to orthodox design education. We
live those original principles today, committed to architecture and
planning as interdisciplinary problem-solving enterprises, rooted
in social engagement, nourished by research-in-practice, animated
by making and doing, and committed to meeting the needs of clients,
communities, and society in an increasingly complex urban
world.

The School of Architecture and Planning and the University at
Buffalo offer a range of financial support opportunities for
students. Resources range from financial aid to scholarships to
student employment.

The School of Architecture and Planning, in partnership with the
university, our alumni, our faculty and staff, and our
philanthropic supporters, provides support to our undergraduate and
graduate students. In addition to tuition scholarships, stipends
for travel and supplies, and support for study abroad, our
students, like our faculty, are actively engaged in teaching,
research, and service—and are rewarded for their hard
work.

The Dean’s Council is a leadership group of friends of the
School of Architecture and Planning dedicated to raising
the global profile of the school and advancing its academic
programs and research enterprise. Members of the Dean’s
Council include distinguished alumni and leading
professionals, from firm executives to educators. As champions of
the School of Architecture and Planning, members leverage their
diverse expertise and leadership positions to forge new connections
and build the school's network of support.

Stay connected! Update your profile below and let us know where
you are and what you’re up to. As graduates of our
programs, your stories of success inspire our students and
enhance the reputation of the school on an international
platform.

The School of Architecture and Planning, in partnership with
local chapters of the American Institute of Architects and the
American Planning Association, has developed a Professional Mentor
Program for alumni and friends to share their experiences and
advice with current students.

Search job and internship opportunities in architecture and
planning. The following openings require varying levels of
education and experience and have been posted by employers on UB
Career Services' BullsEye system.

Martha Bohm on Ecological Practices

“Architecture is about so much more than developing the way a building looks; I am also very interested in how it “acts” – how it consumes energy and water, how it uses materials and creates waste. ”

Martha Bohm, Assistant Professor

Department of Architecture

Q: What are you doing to help UB become more
sustainable?

My teaching focuses on giving architecture students the skills
and tools they need to create sustainable designs for
buildings. It is my hope that the students who graduate from
our program and go on to become practicing professional architects
will apply these skills, and that UB-trained architects will become
known as being knowledgeable about issues of sustainability and
skilled in creating ecologically sensitive buildings.

Q: What kinds of sustainability related
research/projects do you pursue at UB?

I focus my research on ways by which we can make the built
environment – our buildings and cities – more
ecological. Architecture is about so much more than
developing the way a building looks; I am also very interested in
how it “acts” – how it consumes energy and water,
how it uses materials and creates waste. Buildings are
complex systems which need to be studied like ecosystems – as
a set of interactions between living and nonliving things.
Through this study we can develop ways to make buildings have not
only fewer negative impacts, but actually regenerate and restore
natural environments.

Q: How are students involved in your sustainability
work?

In addition to the architecture classes on environmental systems
that I teach during the year, I also co-teach a summer study abroad
in Costa Rica called “Sustainable Futures”. In
this interdisciplinary service-learning program for architects,
landscape architects and planners, students work on real projects
in the community of Monteverde, Costa Rica which help the community
sustainably accommodate the rapid development brought by
eco-tourism. The Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, just down
the road from the institute where we work, is one of the most
biologically diverse locations on the planet, with hundreds of
unique species of animals, plants, insects, and birds. This
ecological gem is visited by nearly 250,000 people each year, and
while visitors to the cloud forest may “take only pictures
and leave only footprints”, they each stay in hotels and eat
in restaurants which do have an impact on the natural
environment. Sustainable Futures works to make the
community’s “built environment” – its
buildings and infrastructure – more sustainable. For
example, this summer the students began design on a facility which
will not only treat wastewater and hence reduce the pollution
pressure on the watershed, but will also be a garden and
educational facility for tourists to come, stroll, and learn about
the role they play in the region’s water cycle. In an
area which receives almost 10’ of rain a year, water is a
significant issue.

Q: What is the one thing you would like people to know
that you do in your personal life to further sustainability?

Taking public transportation. Although my work centers on
making buildings more sustainable through design, it’s
important to note that another way the built environment
contributes to an unsustainable environment is through the cars
which bring us back and forth to our buildings. Public
transit uses far less energy per person, and doesn’t require
us to pave so many surfaces in our cities. If more people
took transit, the University wouldn’t require so much land
for parking cars on campus, and hence wouldn’t create as much
storm water, and wouldn’t use as much salt in
winter. I’ve also found that my walk to and from
the metro station is one of the most relaxing parts of my
day. Even in winter, I far prefer to walk than to drive
white-knuckled through ice and snow.

Q: How could UB improve its sustainability efforts?

Encourage a car-free campus by providing free NFTA passes to the
UB community, supporting a UB BikeShare, and make a more walkable
campus environment. I would love to see a UB that has so many
people taking transit, biking, or walking that it could turn over
some of its paved areas into gardens and walking trails. It
may sound outlandish, but wouldn’t it make for a much more
delightful campus? It is entirely possible, if as a campus we
choose to make it happen.

Continue to build and renovate new buildings as sustainably as
possible. UB currently has several projects underway
(including the School of Architecture and Planning’s Hayes
Hall) which are aiming to achieve gold certification under LEED, a
system which assesses the overall sustainability of building
projects. I would love to see UB using each of these construction
projects as a research exercise in creating sustainable buildings
specifically suited to the UB campus. Each subsequent project
could apply these lessons learned, and allow successive buildings
to become more sustainable with each construction project.

Use campus projects to explore and experiment with creative ways
to make our physical places not just sustainable, but regenerative
and restorative. The Solar Strand is a fantastic example of a
project which creates useful outdoor teaching and social spaces,
and at the same time gives something back to the ecosystem by
producing renewable energy, as well as cleaning storm water.
If the campus were covered with projects like these, not only would
UB reduce its impact, but it would be showing other universities
that it is possible to create places which are not only
sustainable, but also interesting, elegant, and beautiful.